Project Number: 6202-22000-024-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Jul 01, 2004
End Date: Apr 30, 2008

Objective:
Isolate and identify the compound(s) released by germinating cotton seeds that induces germination of the resting structures of pre-emergence seedling disease pathogens, and develop this technology for commercialization. Isolate, identify, characterize, and utilize agents responsible for sustained suppression of the reniform nematode in cotton fields. Identify toxins that are critical to the expression of virulence by fungal wilt pathogens of cotton. Develop a cotton disease model system to assist in identification of the causal agent of bronze wilt.

Approach:
Seedling Diseases - Purify and determine the chemical composition of the biologically active compound that is released from germinating cottonseeds that induces germination of the resting structures of pre-emergence seedling disease pathogens. Reniform nematode - Collect soils that suppress reniform nematodes in cotton fields, analyze the physical and chemical characteristics of these soils, and detect and characterize antagonists. Fusarium wilt - Compare isolates of the various races and vegetative compatibility groups of F. oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum with each other, other formae speciales, and nonpathogenic isolates of F. oxysporum for virulence and the ability to produce fusaric acid, and determine how fusaric acid concentrations effect virulence. Bronze wilt - Incorporate a marker for tracking and quantifying levels of the Agrobacterium strains that may cause bronze wilt in cotton, determine the taxonomy of these strains, establish environmental parameters that are conducive to bronze wilt symptom development, and verify that findings in growth chamber experiments can be reproduced in the green house and field.